“Hate evil, and love good,
and establish justice in the gate;
it may be that the Lord, the God of hosts,
will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.”
– Amos 5:15
Israel had a serious problem…. They thought they were doing OK spiritually when they weren’t. They thought that since they held regular worship services, celebrated the major holidays, and made all the ritual sacrifices that they were doing fine in God’s eyes. They weren’t! They may have been putting on a good show of obeying God, but their heart wasn’t in it. They weren’t actually submitted to God, His commands, and His heart for other people. God, being God, knew the truth of their spiritual rot.
Though they made a great show of religiosity, they were cruel and uncaring toward others. They cheated, mistreated, and exploited the poor. They appeared religious but really worshipped idols of money and status as they pursued beautiful houses and extravagant displays of wealth. God condemned them for this. God’s heart is for all people, but particularly for the poor and vulnerable. He expects His people to share that heart and act on it. As He prophesied destruction for Israel, He held out yet another chance to turn from their false obedience and embrace true obedience to Him.
God’s people must hate evil, not flirt with it, praise it, participate in it, excuse it, or celebrate it. God’s people must love good. Not the mere idea of good, but actually doing good toward others out of love and obedience to the God Who saves us. God’s people must care about and work for justice and promote systems and structures that bless all people, particularly those who are most vulnerable. These aren’t optional for God’s people. They aren’t what save anyone but they are what those who are truly saved care about.
This hasn’t changed since the time of Amos. The same critique can sometimes be made about God’s people today. We can easily take on the appearance of great religiosity without embracing the heart of Jesus for the poor and vulnerable among us. We can be focused on the appearance of following Jesus while rebelling against Him in the privacy of our homes, in the priorities of our hearts, and in the policies we advocate. We chase idols of wealth, status, and comfort while praising the name of Jesus in worship. Let us be careful today, in our time, that we really do hate evil, love good, and establish justice in our communities. #FollowJesus